LIHUE — A veterinarian who had earlier treated some of the 16 horses seized from Lara Butler-Brady by Kauai Humane Society officers Sunday said Tuesday all of the horses should survive.

"Yes, I think they will survive," said Dr. Scott Sims, who spent most of Tuesday examining the horses.

"They certainly are very skinny."

Sims, who has owned horses since he was 7 including currently at his Moloaa home, was called by KHS to examine the horses taken from Butler-Brady's leased land along Maalo Road in Kapaia following numerous reports of emaciated and dehydrated horses on the ranch.

He said a third of the horses were "extremely thin," another third were "too thin" and the final third were "adequate. None were fat.

"There were several that were adequate in the herd. The thing you have to look at is the totality" of the herd, he said in a telephone interview.

For example, if there is a herd of 10 to 15 horses and one or two of them are skinny, then there's something wrong with those particular horses, he said.

When most of an entire herd is showing signs of neglect, "there's something wrong with the management of the place. That's where we are in this case," said Sims, adding that he had to be very careful what he says so as not to jeopardize the animal-cruelty case against Butler-Brady.

Butler-Brady, who again couldn't be reached for comment through her Keapana Horsemanship business line, was cited Sunday for 16 counts of cruelty to animals.

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